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Coins, Currency, and Medals

The Museum possesses one of the largest numismatic collections in the world. The collections include over 1 million objects, comprising coins, medals, decorations, and pieces of paper money. Among the many great rarities here are some of the world’s oldest coins, created 2,700 years ago. But the collection also includes the latest innovations in electronic monetary exchange, as well as beads, wampum, and other commodities once used as money. A special strength lies in artifacts that illustrate the development of money and medals in the United States. The American section includes many rare and significant coins, such as two of three known examples of the world's most valuable coin, the 1933 double eagle $20 gold piece.

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing right, unbound hair; date below. Reverse: Value within wreath, fraction (1/100) below. The silver center cent pattern was an attempt to create a cent worth its stated denomination, while doing away with a large, heavy copper coin. The silver plug was inserted to raise the intrinsic value.

Henry Voigt cut the dies. About a dozen of these coins are known to have been produced. The experiment was abandoned, probably due to the difficulty of manufacture. [reference no. Judd 1]

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing left, with coronet; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, denomination (TEN D.) U.S. Mint engraver Christian Gobrecht altered his Liberty head slightly in mid-1839. Previously, the Liberty's head had been tilted slightly forward. After that, the head was completely vertical: Liberty looks straight ahead rather than slightly down. Thus amended, the Gobrecht designs graced the eagle for the remainder of the 19th century and the first few years of the 20th. This single proof eagle is the only one known for the year 1840.

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing left, with coronet; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, denomination. Beyond this specimen, one other is rumored to exist, but that rumor remains unconfirmed.

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing left, with coronet; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, denomination. Three proof 1844 eagles, including this one, are recorded. One of the others is part of a set.

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing left, with coronet; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, denomination. Three pieces are known in proof, one of them in a cased presentation set from 1846.

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing left, wearing coronet; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, denomination (TEN D.). A reduction in the stipulated weight of the ten dollar gold piece, or eagle, offered promise that the coin would be kept in circulation rather than heading for the melting pot as soon as it was struck. Accordingly, the Mint was instructed to resume eagle coinage. It employed the talents of a new, skilled designer, Christian Gobrecht, better known for his impact on American silver coinage of the same era.

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped head of Liberty facing left, stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto above, denomination below. The 1829 half eagle comes in two types, large-module, struck before the introduction of the restraining collar, and small-module, struck afterwards. One proof is known for the first category, three for the second. The Smithsonian proof is from the second group. The most obvious way of distinguishing the two types is by means of the date. The date is large on Type 2, much smaller on Type 2.